A small group of enthusiastic writers descended on Dublin Public Library Saturday, June 4 as the Writers League of Texas and the Tocker Foundation presented a Texas Writes program.
The event included “Criminal Minds: the elements of crime writing” with New York Times bestselling author Kathleen Kent and “Writing Our Lives: the Art of the Personal Essay” with Diana Spechler. Spechler has written for the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, BBC Travel, Bon Appetit, Texas Monthly and many other publications.
As Kent dug into the art of crime writing, participants were given tips on how to achieve pacing and the importance of narrative style along with many other pointers specifically for crimestyle writing.
When asked who her favorite author to read was, she recommended S.A. Crosby, a Noir crime writer.
As Spechler began her portion of the program, she emphasized the need to enhance the five senses, forcing readers to be there with you when you write.
She told participants to omit needless words and to try to dedicate even a small amount of time - like 30 minutes a day, three times a week, for writing.
Spechler also said for those writing fiction, having a character write a personal essay is a great way for an author to develop a character.